Investment banks are looking to recruit from accounting firms to tackle a chronic shortage of execution staff in their ranks to work on deals at a time when activity is rebounding in Europe.

Demand for staff at associate level – those who typically have three to six years’ experience and do much of the behind-the-scenes work on deals – is vastly outstripping supply, according to headhunters.

Banks pared back their hiring of graduates between 2007 and 2010 during the fallout of the financial crisis, while the junior ranks were the hardest hit when the banks initiated rounds of job cuts to slash costs.
As activity has returned, banks have found themselves short of so-called execution capability, or the bankers often responsible for much of the heavy lifting during deals.

Andrew Breach, head of global banking and asset management at recruitment firm Michael Page, said about 80% of the hiring he is doing is for analysts and associates. In many cases, this demand is being met by recruits recently qualified with the ACA, the chartered accountant qualification.

He said: “[The demand for accountants is] definitely true in terms of the work we’ve got on, in sellside investment banks and boutiques as well [as in the] M&A, corporate finance advisory and private equity space. There is a demand for ACAs for corporate finance advisory roles.”

Logan Naidu, chief executive of Dartmouth Partners, said that while it is early in the year for bulge-bracket banks to start hiring, “there is going to be demand”.

He said that in 2013 his firm had run three ACA campaigns, which resemble a graduate scheme process but for recently qualified accountants, however, he expected to run five or six in 2014.

The shortage of staff at associate level is more pressing at some firms than others, according to Jonathan Nicholson, managing director at Astbury Marsden, who said some companies had maintained their graduate hiring through the past five years.